Sarah Jessica Parker, was the only cast member of And Just Like That…who knew costar Willie Garson was gravely ill. The late actor, who portrayed Stanford Blatch, passed away at the age of 57 after suffering from pancreatic cancer in September. In a new documentary for the Sex and the City revival called And Just Like That… The Documentary premiering Feb. 3, Cynthia Nixon, who plays Miranda Hobbes, revealed Willie’s diagnosis was held secret from everyone except Sarah.
“You know, the last time I saw Willie, and most of us saw Willie, maybe all of us saw Willie was at [Chris Noth’s character] Mr. Big’s funeral,” Cynthia said during the documentary. “Sarah Jessica was the only person who knew that he was ill.” Echoing the sentiment, Kristin Davis, who plays Charlotte York Goldenblatt, added, “At one point, Sarah knew and the rest of us didn’t because he didn’t want us to know because he didn’t want it to be about that.”
In an emotional interview, Sarah then described how Willie kept a brave face while filming during his battle with cancer. “If he could’ve stayed one more day, two more hours, three more weeks, he would’ve summoned the strength and pushed away the terrible pain that he was in. I mean like pain, like physical pain,” she detailed. “God, I can’t believe I can’t call Willie. I cannot believe I can’t call him. I just can’t believe it,” she continued. “And he would always tell me that he was the most popular character on the show — and he was not making a joke. He was quite serious. I was like, ‘If you say so!’ Turned out, he might’ve been right.”
The news comes after Sarah admitted she felt “responsible” for Willie’s health while on set of And Just Like That… “It was fraught for me to know that he was sick with that particular, terrifying diagnosis. We were a vaccine-mandated show, but nonetheless, a lot of our scenes were with a lot of background players, and I had great concerns about Willie staying as healthy as he could while shooting,” Sarah said during an interview with Vulture.
“I couldn’t share that with anybody. I’d only keep track of him, and I felt responsible in some ways for his health, his well-being on the set,” she continued. “Anytime there was downtime, I sat with him and talked with him. He really was a raconteur, a famously gifted storyteller.”